Deford’s tough interview: Being interviewed on Colbert Report tonight

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Frank Deford has had his share of tough interviews through the years. But he’s never experienced a Q/A like the one he will face Monday night:

Being interviewed by Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report. (Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. ET)

“It’s going to be different, that’s for sure,” Deford said.

Indeed, how do you handle an interview with somebody who is working in character? Charlie Rose is one thing, but the Stephen Colbert on the show is not the real Stephen Colbert.

Deford, 73, says he will go in prepared.

“If you’ve seen the show, you know he’s not mean,” Deford said. “What he’ll do is make a characterization of you. If you’re scientist, he’ll portray you as being a nerd. He’ll try to make me the typical slovenly sportwriter. I’m going to dress as well as I can.”

That won’t be out of character for Deford, whose stylish purple-inspired wardrobes always blasted the stereotypes about the profession.

Deford also is going to follow another piece of advice he received during a pre-show interview Friday. Don’t try to one-up Colbert.

“You’re not supposed to be the comedian,” Deford said. “When you try to be something you’re not, that’s when you get in trouble. I learned a long time ago I am not a comedian. I once did a roast (for Ahmad Rashad), and it was awful. I learned my lesson.

“I hope I do OK. I’m not too worried about being embarrassed.”

Deford will be on the show to promote his new book, Overtime: My Life as a Sportswriter. Last week, he was thrilled to learn the book hit 30th on the New York Times bestselling list.

“It allows us to put a sticker on the book that says we’re a New York Times bestseller,” Deford said.

The book isn’t selling by itself. Deford said he has given 50 speeches and done more than 100 interviews throughout the country for the book. Trust me, as someone who has experienced the interview blitz on a much smaller scale for a golf book, it can get tedious answering the same question over and over.

Deford, though, isn’t complaining.

“The only thing worse than going out on tour is not going out on tour,” Deford said. “Some people think it’s horrible, but I know there are writers who would kill to get one question.”

This isn’t Deford’s first trip to the bestseller list. But this one is different, he said, because the story is about his life.

“Do I want it to be successful? The answer is yes,” Deford said. “This is a little bit different than the last novel I did. This is mostly about me. Stephen Colbert wouldn’t be having me on to talk about a new novel. (Writing a life-story book) is a one-time thing.  I figured I might as well leap into it, and give it all I have.”

 

Sunday read: Why Title IX was so important to women in sports media

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Title IX didn’t just open doors for women in sports. It also provided opportunities for women to have careers in sports media.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily New has done a terrific package to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Title IX. Friday, he did a column ranking the top 40 women in sports media. He placed trailblazer Donna de Varona No. 1.

Said de Varona:

My work in Title IX gave me a voice I wanted to have as a broadcaster. But there was a lot of pushback. My visibility was often threatened. I often got comments about my activism being an issue, forcing me to make choices. That did two things for me: It made me fight harder and stay at ABC, and also to work on Capitol Hill.”

Tom also did a series of interviews, asking prominent women in sports media what Title IX meant to them. Here’s the link to Tom’s blog. Just scroll down a bit to get the interviews.

From Lesley Visser:

Billie Jean (King) didn’t just give me a chance, she gave every woman in this country the chance. The Globe made the first woman to cover the NFL as a beat, and when the credentials came (in 1976), it said — get this — “no women or children in the press box.” There were no ladies rooms, because, of course, there were no women!

From Sally Jenkins:

Title IX affected me as a sportswriter because I was maybe one of only a few who began as an intern in 1982 and there were so few out there. Leslie Visser, and maybe a couple of others. But she was having to deal with covering the NFL and having a player like Terry Bradshaw sign an autograph for her when she tried to interview him because he didn’t know better.

It affected me to broaden the range of acceptable professions for females and decide what was the appropriate conduct for women. There were times when I was working at Sports Illustrated, even in the 1990s, well after the passage of Title IX, when I was arguing for a feature story on Jackie Joyner Kersee. The editor said to me: If it’s a choice between her or Michael Jordan, we’ll do a piece on him every time. But why is it a choice? Why can’t we do both? Even as late as the mid ’90s, and sometimes today, women in sports has this underpinning attitude that it comes at the expense of the male’s expense. For Sports Illustrated to do a Jackie Joyner Kersee story was somehow depriving the male athlete of space. That was the attitude. It’s a very unconscious bias but very persistent and needs to be addressed still.

From Mary Carillo:

I was fortunate that the men I worked for kept giving me the chance to do more; virtually all my bosses were men, and still are. It’s not always easy to make your way through an environment that is so male centric, but I’ve had the chances to try a lot of things.  What came my way did not even exist when I started out in sports television.

But I always tell young kids, especially young women who are interested in this sort of work: if you are asked whether you can do something, cover something, bring back a story — say yes. Then go after it with everything you’ve got. And more than anything, support one another.

Madeline Albright says there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help one another. I believe that with all my heart. All the boats need to rise. Title IX was the first step to an even playing field.

And there’s much more. Take a look.

 

 

 

Why? Charlie Sheen to join Buck, McCarver tonight

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Why? An easy answer. He’s hyping a show on FX.

I bet Tim McCarver is thrilled. I don’t see Sheen being McCarver’s kind of guy. Oh, the things we do for network TV.

From Michael Hiestand in USA Today:

Charlie Sheen will be alongside Tim McCarver and Joe Buck on Fox’s Mets-Yankees Saturday (7 p.m. ET) at least briefly. Or, in case of emergency, to take over: “I’m not going to do any color. But if they go down, I’m their man. I sit at home and do color.”

Sheen will plug his sitcom Anger Management, which debuts June 28 Fox’s FX cable channel and, he says, will be his last TV show. But not giving up on this on the idea of again playing pitcher Ricky Vaughan of the Major League movies.

Sheen there’s a “masterpiece” script for a fourth Major League and “we’ve been busting our (expletive) the past year trying to get it made.” The problem, he says, is that “foreign presale money” is key to financing films and a baseball movie isn’t sure-fire “when soccer is trying to take over the world.”

 

Saturday flashback: Interview with LeBron James at 16; check out the hair

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Before all the hoopla, LeBron James was just a high school kid with an earring and a big mound of hair.

Actually, he never was a normal kid, given all of his talents that were noticed early on. But a Fox Sports Ohio interview with Kerry Sayers (now in Chicago) gives an interesting early glimpse of a young James as he entered his junior year. He talks about prom and his friends. And he had plenty of confidence.

Latest Sports-Casters podcast features yours truly

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I highly recommend the Sports-Casters podcast if you enjoy hearing interviews with the top folks in sports media. They have a good lineup every week. Since I started tuning in, I’ve heard interviews with Frank Deford, Jane Leavy, Tom Verducci, and Sports-Casters regular Richard Deitsch, among others.

This week, the Sports-Casters hosts Steven Bennett and Don Russ lowered their standards and had me on the show. I appear at the 1:17:57 mark.

As you can see, their podcasts are long. However, they do a good thing and mark when the guests are slated to appear. It allows you to pick and choose without having to wade through the entire show.

Also on this week’s podcast are Alan Shipnuck and Joe Lemaire of Sports Illustrated.

Thanks to Steve and Don for having me on. Look forward to trying to catch Deitsch for most appearances.

ESPN exec responds to criticism about Berman: We recognize that his work will never be praised universally

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The Chris Berman detractors came out in full force again last week after his performance in the U.S. Open. Giving him such an extensive role on Thursday and Friday is wrong on so many levels, and it just magnifies all of his excesses that the critics hate.

Dan Levy of the Bleacher Report wrote a piece with this opener:

Chris Berman has lost his fastball.

Once the ace of the ESPN announcing crew, Berman—who has been with ESPN since the network first went on the air in 1979—has become the TV equivalent of a junk-ball pitcher, throwing the same stuff at audiences for years in hopes that something still works.

I say he hasn’t lost his fastball as much as he can’t control it. He goes too over the top with too much of his schtick.

John Wildhack, Executive Vice President of Production at ESPN, did respond to the criticism. Naturally, he defended Berman, although he did allow that the big man isn’t universally beloved:

Chris has been in this business for more than three decades. We recognize that his work will never be praised universally.

It seems that at times, criticizing Chris has become a pastime for some, as opposed to presenting an actual review of the work he does. What’s important is he works hard, he’s prepared, he’s extremely passionate about it and he is a huge sports fan which allows him to connect with the sports fans we serve.

Regarding his misplaced role on the U.S. Open, Wildhack said:

Currently, the event portion of Chris’ schedule is less than his NFL studio role. With that said, the U.S. Open Golf assignment is something he’s been doing for a long time. He is an avid golf fan, knows the sport and players extremely well and the USGA supports his involvement every year.

Alice Cooper is a golf nut too, but I doubt ESPN would let him anchor the U.S. Open. For such an important tournament, it’s just too jarring to hear Berman on the call. Let him do a long-drive contest.

As for whether ESPN has asked Berman to tone down his act, Wildhack said:

It’s a delicate balance for sure. Our goal as a content team is to provide an entertaining presentation with authority and personality.

Obviously, the balance may change by event. The Home Run Derby is a fun, exciting program that gets huge viewership. With that said, its popularity and significance is not essentially based on who wins or loses like events such as the BCS Championship or NBA Finals. Our production approach – including where our cameras/microphones can go and how our commentators approach the telecast – reflects that.

I have to believe behind the scenes ESPN has asked Berman to tone it down, but he won’t or just can’t do it at this point.

 

 

 

Nail fungus ad mars historic Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel front page

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OK, it’s a fact of life that newspapers need the revenue from front page advertising. But perhaps just this one time it might have been best for the Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale to kill a front-page ad.

The Miami Heat’s championship presented the paper with one of those rare opportunities for a historical front. Thousands of extra papers are printed for fans who want a timeless souvenir.

The Sun-Sentinel delivered a front page Friday suitable for framing. However, at the bottom, there’s a huge ad for a nail fungus remedy, with before and after photos.

I’m sorry, but that’s way too much for me to digest in the morning, and especially on a front page celebrating LeBron James’ first. The paper should have said to the nail fungus folks, “Not today, we’ll make it up to you.”